Improvement in post-office boxes



4". B. HARLOW; POST-OFFICE BoxEs.-

Pate nted March 20,

N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. (1C,

NEED STATES PATENT IMPROVEMENT lN POST-OFFICE BOXES.v

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 188,5!2, dated March 20, 1877; application filed March 3, 1877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN B. HARLOW, of St. Louis, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri,- have invented a new and useful Improvement in Distributing Pigeon-Holes for Postal-Oars, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification, and accompanying drawings.

Postal-cars are provided with cases of pigeon-holes, labeled with the names ofthe principal post-offices-along the route, or on connecting postal-routes, and the letters are distributed to their appropriate pigeon-ho1es by postal-clerks on the cars. A car going north from Washingtomfor instance, will have its pigeon-holes labeled Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, New York, and so on; but'if the same car travels south from Washington, it must have a case of pigeon'holes differently labeled-as Richmond, Petersburg, Atlanta, St. Louis, and so on.

Heretofore changeable labels have been used for each pigeon-hole, to be attached or detached whenever a change is required to be.

made; or the partitions between the pigeonholes, forming their tops and bottoms, have been constructed to slide in and out of their seats, having different labels upon opposite edges, so that by reversing each of said slidingpartitions different labels will be brought to the front. Both of these plans are objectionable, not only because of the time required to change the labels, but because in the case first mentioned the changeable labels are liable to become accidentally detach ed and lost, and in the last-mentioned case the sliding partitions are liable to become loose and to warp.

My invention consists in making the entire case of pigeon-holes detachable from the frame in which it is seated, and reversible, with the pigeon-holes permanently and differently labeled on each side, so that, by, withdrawing the case from its frame and reversing it, the labels will all be changed.

north from Washington.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front perspective view of a case of pigeonholes seated'in its frame, adjusted for going Fig. 2 is a view of the same case of pigeon-holes detached from its frame and reversed, preparatory to going south, and Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of the case detached from the frame.

A is the inclosing-fraine, which has a back to it, making a box open in front. B is the reversible case, and c a spring-catch to hold the case securel yin theframe. The top and bottom of the case B are made beveling, as shown in Fig. 3, and the bottom plate of the frame A is set on a correspondingbevel, so that the bottomof the case requires no other fastening to hold it securely in the frame. The case can be withdrawn from the frame, reversed, and replaced easily, and in very little time; and every time it is sovwithdrawn and reversed, all the dust collecting in the pigeon-holes will be removed, whereas in the pigeon-holes as heretofore constructed the dust collecting in them has been a great annoyance, and dit ficult to clean out. Furthermore, in taking letters out of the pigeon-holes, one or two are liable to he accidentally left in the bottom, and the frequent reversing of the case obviates all danger of this kind.

Having thus fully described my invention,

and the manner of using it,-what I claim, and desire to secure, is-

The combination of the frame A, with its interior inclined at the topand bottom, the reversible case B, labeled on opposite sides, and inclined at the top and bottom, and the spring-catch c, substantially as and for the purpose described.

'JOHN B. HARLOW.

Witnesses:

J. W. HAMILTON JOHNSON, Jos. L. GooMBs. 

